About
The challenge
Europe’s electronics, renewable energy, and digital industries all depend on Critical Raw Materials, yet most are imported, supply is constrained, and huge quantities are lost every year in discarded electronics. The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act sets an ambitious target of sourcing 25% of annual CRM consumption from recycling by 2030. Getting there means treating WEEE not as waste, but as a resource.
What is CIRCUIT4EU?
CIRCUIT4EU is a Horizon Europe innovation project that recovers Critical Raw Materials and Strategic Raw Materials from three of the richest sources in e-waste: printed circuit boards, permanent magnets, and electronic components. The project targets 9 of the EU’s 34 CRMs, including copper, cobalt, nickel, antimony, tantalum, and rare earth elements, piloting solutions across four everyday product groups: laptops, Wi-Fi boxes, e-scooters, and dishwashers.
Over 42 months, CIRCUIT4EU advances 10 technologies – from robotic disassembly and desoldering to hydrometallurgical recycling, Digital Product Passports, and AI-driven quality inspection – taking each up to Technology Readiness Level 7.
But CIRCUIT4EU isn’t only about technology. The project is working to shift the whole market: from one where CRM supply depends on virgin extraction, to one where refurbishers and recyclers have real-time visibility of CRM and SRM flows and can order high-value components on demand, closing the loop across Europe.
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Critical raw materials are sitting inside millions of laptops, routers, e-scooters and appliances that Europe already owns. CIRCUIT4EU exists to prove that recovering them at scale is not just technically possible, but the foundation of a genuinely circular electronics industry.
Nicolas Perry,
Coordinator, ENSAM (Arts et Métiers)
CIRCUIT4EU ‘s approach
The project is structured around seven work packages, moving from insight to impact:
Frameworks: mapping today’s CRM/SRM flows in WEEE and modelling the value at stake
Technology: developing recovery technologies for PCBs, permanent magnets, and electronic components
Digitalisation: building Digital Product Passports, reverse logistics, and a digital marketplace for CRM-rich components
Pilots: testing everything on real laptops, Wi-Fi boxes, e-scooters, and dishwashers
Communication & clustering: sharing results with industry, policymakers, and sister projects
Exploitation & standardisation: turning results into business cases, replication opportunities, and standards proposals for the wider CRM industry
Get involved
CIRCUIT4EU is building a network of industry, researchers, policymakers, and recyclers who want to shape the future of circular electronics.